Short Straw
by catzlovecheeze
Summary: Every kid had heard the cautionary tales about the woods, and to never go in them past dark, and NEVER alone. But with such forbidden ground comes curiosity, and with the groupthink of a high school party comes boldness. Slenderman oneshot.


Everyone knew the rules about the forest.

You were not to go into them. Maybe a walk or hunt with an adult was alright, but never at night. And NEVER alone.

But everyone had also heard the stories of the rulebreakers. Those who said their friends had snuck over the fences in the darkness of night, had made it from one end of the forest to the other.

So everyone knew the lore. The noises you would hear, the fear you would feel, the cold out of nowhere. And how to survive; to never turn around, never stop, and never run. The kids at the lunch tables, speaking in hushed whispers as everyone leaned in, said that those who did either of the three went missing; never to be found again.

It was easy to be afraid of the trees that not even adults would venture near past nightfall. But it was also easy to be curious about them.

And at an end-of-the-year party, full of high schoolers in the June night and no adults, it was easy to be persuaded by peer pressure and groupthink to go into the feared woods.

They drew straws, and the unlucky recipient of the short straw - a freshman girl named Kaylie - didn't even try to back out. They were a hivemind, and everyone cheered for her, adrenaline pumping hard, outweighing common sense, outweighing all the cautionary tales.

They took three trucks to the forest, and everyone spilled out when they got there, standing in a mob on the side of the road - and the edge of the woods. A few of the braver even hopped over the ditch with her and boosted her over the fence, mindful of the barbed wire at the top. They gave her instructions - just follow the path straight through, shouldn't be more than a half hour. They handed her the flashlight through the chain link, reciting the chant they had heard so often in the local urban legends, at slumber parties, at lunch tables, wherever:

"Don't stop, don't turn about,

Don't run, and you'll get out."

The truck's engine got fainter as the back headlights disappeared around a bend, and she simply watched until she could hear them no longer. She gripped the flashlight tight, just starting to feel the fear, now that she was removed from the hivemind. She glanced up at the fence; she couldn't climb over, even if she wanted to; the barbed wire curved inward.

Not that she was going to anyways. She didn't want to chicken out; she wanted to make it to the other side. It couldn't be that bad, anyways; three things to do; or not do, more specifically. And it was probably a bunch of bull anyways; just scary stories. She wanted to get to the other side, where the group would be waiting, having ridden around the forest in the truck.

She started out through the forest. The first ten minutes were uneventful, save for a few snapping twigs that she started at, but made herself keep walking, and never turn more than ninety degrees around. It got worse as they got less to the side and more behind her, and she couldn't see them without actually turning around.

'They're just stories; it's not like anything will actually happen if you turn around,' interjected the part of her mind curious to see what was behind them. But even the insistence on the falsity of the legends was in a doubtful tone, a weak argument; her mind, alone and unsettled, was reminding her of the way even adults avoided the woods at night; of the serious and very real warnings against these woods.

So as curious as she might be, she wouldn't let herself turn and look.

About twelve minutes in, she started seeing glances of things in her peripheral vision. She almost turned once and looked, startled and losing composure, but she remembered and snapped her head back into place, jumping every time it happened afterwards, but not looking.

Fifteen minutes in, she felt the cold. No leaves rustled, but it felt as if a cold wind surrounded her. Her arms raised in goosebumps; from both the phantom cold and her inability to explain the occurrence.

Seventeen minutes in, she heard the footsteps. They started out far behind her, so faint she could barely hear them. Then they started catching up; slowly but surely growing louder. She almost turned and looked; what if it was a murderer in the woods? But the way the cold pricked harder at her as the footsteps got louder made something in her reason this was no human behind her; this was something of a far more paranormal realm.

Twenty minutes in and they were right behind her, setting their feet down when her's lifted, so she could clearly hear every footstep they took. She kept her eyes on the trail ahead of her, the circle illuminated by the flashlight. Her heart was thudding, she was choking on her breath, making herself walk on, ignoring her instincts that told her to run, run, run; she didn't even dare pick up the pace of her walk, fearing it could be mistaken for a run. She forced herself to breathe normally, but there was nothing she could do about her shaking hands; her body burning with unused adrenaline.

Twenty-five minutes and she was a shaking mess, her mind itching to turn around or get out, her body was burning with adrenaline, because this was not normal, not safe. It felt like there were ice crystals piercing her skin, and she heard a slight chuckle behind her and felt something hot brush over the back of her T-shirt; fingertips from the being behind her, and she

d

and took off in a sprint as her instincts took her head, and she crashed into something tall, falling backwards to the ground.

She looked up at a blank face and ebony body, felt...something...smooth and long and cold coil around her ankles and wrists and waist, and she was lifted into the air upside down. Her legs were pinned together so she couldn't kick, her arms held behind her back so she couldn't hit, and she saw her pursuer - someone in a mask - approach with a bottle and a cloth they pressed over her tried not to breathe in, thrashing around, but she couldn't get free and she needed air and she instinctively inhaled and

darkness.

"As of noon today, a statewide Amber Alert has gone out for fifteen-year-old Kaylie Green, who went missing two nights ago. Classmates say she had been walking home from a party and had mentioned taking a shortcut through woods where residents are often said to get turned around and lost. Anyone with any information on her whereabouts is urged to call the number at the bottom of the screen..."

Catz: More Slenderman fanfic. I was walking home alongside some dark woods and started singing a Slenderman song and got spooked. So here you go.

Her classmates done fibbed so they wouldn't get in trouble. And the news was like, "'haunted forest' sounds stupid let's just say people get lost there without making it sound like we're superstitious."

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